Where Our Ancestors Lived in America

Using books to learn more
about where our ancestors lived

Some years ago, hubby and I took a memorable daylong tour of the Bronx, New York, with Professor Lloyd Ultan, who is the County Historian.

I bought the two books above not just for nostalgia (being a native Bronxite), but also to look up places where my immigrant ancestors lived. In search of historical context for my genealogy research!

Where My Ancestors Lived in the Bronx

Many immigrant members of my family tree settled in the Bronx after spending time in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and, in some cases, living in Jewish Harlem in Manhattan. I found photos and explanations of the streets where they lived and worked in two Bronx books, The Beautiful Bronx and The Bronx in the Innocent Years.

For instance, my paternal grandma Henrietta Mahler (1881-1954) plus one brother and both her parents were born in Eastern Europe. After the parents and two oldest children came to New York City, the rest of the Mahler children were born in the Big Apple.

In 1920, my great aunt Ida Mahler (1892-1971) married immigrant Louis Volk (1890-1952), who was originally from Sukian, Russia. As their family grew, they moved uptown to a series of nice Bronx neighborhoods (Walton Ave., Morris Ave., Rochambeau Ave., Findlay Ave.).

The Bronx books show photos of typical apartment buildings on those streets, explaining that the areas were desirable because they were within walking distance of mass transit like subway, trolley, and bus lines.

It was fascinating to watch the development of the neighborhoods, one historical photo at a time, and imagine my ancestors' daily lives as they shopped in local stores and sent children to local schools. Almost like time travel to when/where my ancestors spent so many years of their lives!

Where Hubby's Ancestors Lived in Upper Sandusky

The small book in the photo is Images of America: Upper Sandusky, a pictorial history of the town in Ohio where my husband's maternal grandma Floyda Steiner (1878-1948) and her family lived before the turn of the 20th century. She and her siblings kept homes there well into the middle of the 1900s.

The book has photos of the very lovely and well-kept Old Mission Cemetery, where Floyda and her siblings are buried. Included was a photo of the infamous gravestone incorrectly inscribed with a death date of February 31. We saw (and photographed) that grave when visiting Steiner graves a few years ago.

The book has lots of photos of churches and schools, some of which were attended by Floyda and her family. In addition, it has some dated photos of local families whose names are familiar from the FAN club of my hubby's family tree.

Some of the homes where Steiners lived in the 1900s are no longer standing, replaced by newer buildings. But my husband and I both enjoyed paging through the history of Upper Sandusky and learning more about the key people and events shaping the town's development over the years--great context for understanding his family history.

Cousin Bait on Find a Grave

Find a Grave memorial for Grandma Henrietta

Free and easy cousin bait: post photos and link family members on Find a Grave, the giant gravestone memorial website now owned by Ancestry.com.

Here's an example from my father's family tree. This is the Find a Grave memorial for my Grandma Henrietta Mahler Burk (1881-1954).

Look for Family Links

See the arrow pointing to "Family Members" in the middle of this image?

That shows extensive linking of Henrietta to her parents' memorials on Find a Grave, to her spouse (hi, Grandpa Isaac), and to her siblings and one child (hi, Dad).

Most often, only a family member will take the time to link so many family members. And that's a clue to possibly connecting with a cousin. You can "view source" next to the memorial ID number, then write a nice note to the person who manages the memorial, explaining how you believe you're related to the person in the memorial and asking for more info or offering to share more genealogy info.

Look for Personal Photos 

See the two ovals around the words "Added by M Wood" under the grave photo and the person photo?

That tells you who posted the photos. (In this case, me!)

Although volunteers frequently post gravestone photos, they rarely have personal photos of the person who's passed away.

That's why it's a good idea to click on personal photos, read any captions, and then write a nice note to the person who posted them.

Register on Find a Grave to Participate

To send/receive messages, post photos, and link family members' memorials on Find a Grave, you'll need to register, which is free.

Once you've signed in, you can participate in setting bait for cousins and following bait to find possible cousins.

Good luck!

No Longer Forgotten: Searching for Mahler Babies

Searching for "no given name" with surname and parents

My great-grandparents, Tillie Jacobs Mahler (185?-1952) and Meyer Mahler (1861-1910) had 7 children that I knew about, from family photos or Census records or both.

But there were a few gaps between births. One gap (late 1880s) I attributed to Meyer and Tillie arriving in New York City a year apart after leaving Eastern Europe. Were other children born during the gaps?

Checking the 1910 US Census


I returned to the 1910 Census, where Tillie said she was a widow.

As circled on the snippet above, she told the enumerator she had 10 children in all, but only 7 still living. (The 1910 Census is one of my favorites because of this question!)

In the 1900 Census, Tillie said she had 9 children in all, but only 7 still living.

The search was on for these missing Mahler children.

Searching by "no given name"

To look for children that Tillie and Meyer might have had (and lost) in America, I searched the New York City/state birth/death collections of FamilySearch and Ancestry.

These specific databases would be the most likely to have records about babies born/died from the mid-1880s to the early 1900s. The Mahlers lived nowhere other than New York City after arriving from Eastern Europe in the 1880s.

Leaving the "given or first name" field blank, I inserted "Mahler" for the surname and added Meyer Mahler as father, Tillie (no last name) as mother. I also searched for and looked at creative spellings of Mahler (such as "Maler").

The screen shot at top shows the top search results: Two Mahler boys.

Found: Two Mahler boys

The first search result was for a son named Wolf Mahler, born September 10, 1890. Unfortunately, Wolf died at the age of 3 on January 13, 1894, of "acute Bright's" (kidney disease). What makes this particularly poignant is that Wolf's mother Tillie was pregnant with her next child, born in July of 1894.

The second search result was for a baby boy named Sundel Mahler, born sometime early in 1901. He died on April 5, 1901, according to the death index, and was buried (like Wolf) in Mt. Zion Cemetery in New York.

This boy would be #10, born after 1900 (when Tillie told the Census she had 9, 7 still living) and before 1910 (when Tillie told the Census she had 10, 7 still living).

Little Sundel was the last of Tillie and Meyer Mahler's children that I can find. He was born 20 years after their first-born child (that was my Grandma Henrietta Mahler Burk).

Both Wolf and Sundel are now included on my Ancestry family tree, never again to be forgotten.

Still Searching for One Mahler Baby

The other "missing" baby is, for now, still missing, nowhere in the first 150 or so results in Ancestry and Family Search.

I've also searched Mt. Zion Cemetery, where Meyer and Tillie and the two baby boys were buried. Only a few Mahler names are long-shot possibilities. I'm going to check these names by searching for their death certs and parents. The rest of the Mahler names in this cemetery I can rule out due to the burial dates.

My guess is that the missing child was born and died in Latvia before the family left for America, but this is only a guess.

Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow for this #52Ancestors prompt.

Two Pages of #FamilyHistory for $130

CD with grandpa Isaac Burk's Alien Registration Form

In November, when dramatically higher fees were proposed for requesting genealogy records from U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), the first thing I did was write a strongly-worded protest letter, and copied my legislators.

Then I looked at my family tree and decided to finally obtain USCIS records for my paternal grandfather Isaac Burk (1881?-1943). After all, if the price goes even higher, it will be entirely out of reach. Better to check on Grandpa's records now.

First step: Pay $65 for a Search

I clicked to the USCIS page for genealogy and read the directions. As the page explains, without a case number or other identifier, I needed to pay $65 for the department to search for Grandpa's name in its files. I submitted my request and my credit card number online just before Thanksgiving.

The search was completed in mid-December. USCIS said it had two types of records: C-File (naturalization court records) and AR-2 Form (Alien Registration Form).

Because I've already found Grandpa's naturalization documents (citizenship, petition, and so forth--dating from 1930s through his naturalization in 1942), I decided to send only for his 1940 AR-2 Form.

Second step: Pay another $65 for AR-2--and Wait

After waiting the requisite 24 hours to order documents mentioned in the USCIS letter, I applied online to receive the AR-2, paying another $65 by credit card. The date was December 14, 2019.

Six weeks later, I received two follow-up letters from the USCIS, acknowledging my records request and providing me with a case identification number. One letter said that the results would be mailed to me. The other letter said I would receive the records on a CD.

On March 8, I received an envelope with a CD dated February 26, 2020.

What $130 Buys
 

AR-2 Form for Isaac Burk

On the CD was a cover note explaining that there were exactly two pages corresponding to my AR-2 Form request.

Also on the CD was an excellent scan of Grandpa's Alien Registration Form, two pages long!

Did I learn anything?

• Grandpa Isaac said he was born in "Kovna, Russia" which was technically correct--it was within independent Lithuania until 1939, when the area was taken over by the Soviets. Not new news, but confirmation of what he said in some other documents (when he didn't say simply "Russia"). For instance, in one of his naturalization papers, he declared his birthplace as "Kovna, Lithuania."
• Grandpa Isaac gave his birthday as June 5, 1881. On some other documents, he gave the year as 1882. Maybe I should believe 1881?
• Grandpa Isaac said he was a "machinist" working for a manufacturer of dress forms. In most older documents, Grandpa's usual occupation was shown as "carpenter, cabinet-maker" with the same or a nearby address for his employer. This dress-forms company was also his employer on his WWII "old man's draft" card...and it was run by an in-law. So this was of interest.
• Grandpa Isaac said he was a member of the Independent Harlem True Brothers (a benevolent society) since 1916. Grandpa and his wife, Grandma Henrietta Mahler Burk (1881-1954), were both buried in this society's plot in Riverside Cemetery, Saddle Brook, NJ. But I hadn't known how long he was with the group, which he obviously joined within a year of settling down in New York City permanently.

This was an expensive experiment that I'm glad I tried but won't repeat. Not enough new information to make two pages worth $130.

IF, however, I didn't know Grandpa's date of immigration, his place of birth, his address at the time, and other details, this could have been more valuable than it turned out to be for me, 22 years after first beginning my search for Grandpa's life story.

Close to Home But Far Enough Away

Draft card for Dad, Harold Burk (1909-1978)

My Dad, Harold Burk (1909-1978), registered for the draft on 16 October 1940. This was only 30 days after the implementation of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940. He didn't actually enlist in the US Army until early 1942, a few months after Pearl Harbor.

On the 1940 draft card, Harold listed his home address as 3905 Carpenter Avenue, Bronx, New York. But that's not where he was enumerated in the 1940 Census, just six months earlier.

Moving Out But Staying Close to Home

On April 4, 1940, Harold was listed as living with his parents and younger brother at 3044 Valentine Avenue, Bronx, New York. His Mom told the Census that they all lived in the same place in 1935. (I know she answered the questions because there's a small x inside a circle next to her name on the handwritten forms.) In fact, both parents stayed at this address for several more years.

Sometime in the six months following Census Day, Harold moved out of his parents' apartment and into an apartment on Carpenter Avenue. The two apartment buildings are about three miles from each other--close enough for son and parents to easily visit one another but far enough away for separate lives.

I don't know for sure whether Harold's younger brother Sidney Burk (1914-1995) moved out with him to share the brand-new apartment. My guess is he did--he was in his mid-twenties and both were working at steady jobs.

Another guess is that Harold and Sidney chose this apartment building because their older sister (Mildred Burk Lang, 1907-1993) was moving there with her husband. Millie and family weren't at this address in the 1940 Bronx phone directory--but of course, directories are prepared well in advance, much earlier than October. I'm currently looking for Millie's husband's draft card to see what address he listed, and when.

Built in 1940 or 1941?

In researching 3905 Carpenter Avenue, where Harold said he was living in October, 1940, I checked the New York City Department of Records Tax Photo Archive. I was hoping to find a photo of the building when it was just constructed.

However, according to the tax records, as shown at right, this building was built in 1941. Most likely (I'm guessing) this is a quirk of the tax records and the apartment building was declared built "as of 1941" or "at the start of 1941." In either case, no photo, and another guess at this point.

Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow for this week 4 prompt in the #52Ancestors series.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Where Were Ancestors in 1950 Census?

Randy Seaver and I are on the same wavelength this week, with the Saturday Night Genealogy Fun focusing on the 1950 US Census! I've been digging into the details of the 1950 Census, so I'll be ready to find ancestors by location when the records are released in April, 2022.

Randy's challenge: Who in your ancestral families will be in the 1950 census?  Where will they be residing,  What occupations will they have?  The official "date" was 1 April 1950.

Maternal Ancestors in 1950 Census

Grandma Hermina Farkas Schwartz and Grandpa Theodore Schwartz will be living on 180th Street in the Bronx, NY, having moved from their long-time apartment on Beck Street soon after World War II ended. He will still be a dairy grocer, but not for long--his retirement came early in the 1950s!

Their twins, Daisy and Dorothy Schwartz, had already left home by this time. Daisy (hi Mom!) married Harold Burk (hi Dad!) and they were living in an apartment building on Carpenter Avenue in the Bronx, NY. The apartment building full of paternal ancestors, as noted below. Daisy was a homemaker and Dad was a travel agent.

Dorothy Schwartz (hi Auntie!) was somewhere in the Bronx, soon to move to Hackensack, NJ, with her partner, Lee Wallace. Dorothy was working for Macy's, I believe, where she met Lee, head of publicity/special events and leader of the Thanksgiving Day Parade for many years.

Daisy and Dorothy's older brother lived in Brooklyn, a high school teacher in 1950. His wife later became head of guidance for all of New York City's public schools. Their two children will both be enumerated in the 1950 Census.

Grandpa's brother, Sam Schwartz, was living in Queens, NY, also a dairy grocer. This is where I'll learn whether he had already married his second wife, Margaret. My guess is yes, they were already married by this time (his first wife, Anna Gelbman, died in 1940).

Grandpa's sister, Mary Schwartz Wirtschafter, was most likely living with her furrier husband, Edward Wirtschafter, in their home in Mount Vernon, NY. There's a small possibility they were elsewhere, since their daughter remembered them taking an apartment in the Bronx at some point.

Many of Grandma's Farkas siblings lived in the New York area and I'll be able to find them easily, thanks to the Farkas Family Tree minutes and letters I've indexed for quick reference.

Paternal Ancestors in 1950 Census

Great-grandma Tillie Jacobs Mahler was living in the Bronx on Marmion Ave., where I believe she stayed until her death in 1952. This is the ancestor who was either 99 or 100 when she died. The Census might give me a solid clue about her age...

Tillie's daughter Dora lived with her at this time. Dora, tall and thin, had been in millinery sales but retired early due to a chronic health condition (heart?). She died just a few months after this Census was taken.

My paternal grandma was Tillie's daughter Henrietta Mahler Burk (hi Gran!). Henrietta's husband Isaac Burk had died years earlier, so I'm going to be interested to see whether Grandma Henrietta was still on Valentine Avenue in the Bronx, where they were living when Isaac died in the 1940s. More likely she will be found in the same apartment Bronx building as her son Harold (hi Dad) and daughter-in-law Daisy (hi Mom) AND her younger son Sidney Burk and older daughter Mildred Burk Lang. Lots of family in one apartment building, the building where I was brought up.

I'll be able to locate all of Tillie's other living children, I think, because I'm in touch with 2d cousins who are their descendants. One daughter married and went to California. A son worked as a handyman in Hollywood and lived in a small apartment in Los Angeles.

One goal is to trace all of Tillie's nieces and nephews, the children of her brother Joseph Jacobs and his wife, Eva Michalovsky Jacobs. Two of Joseph's and Eva's daughter died young. I know where one of the other daughters lived in 1950, and one of the sons. So I'll be looking for the two other children!

Extra Notations and Detailed Answers in 1950 US Census

 Excerpt from 1950
US Census
Enumerators'
Manual

This is my fourth post about understanding the 1950 US Census, to be released in April, 2022. (You can see other posts on my summary page here.)

Whether enumerators for the 1950 US Census actually followed the rules set forth in the instructions, I don't yet know. But if they did, we genealogists will be glad for their extra notations and detailed answers.

Some examples:

• If the enumerator can't get a specific, accurate age from a household respondent, he or she was instructed to "enter an estimate as the last resort, and footnote it as an estimate." Wonder whether my Great-grandma Tillie Jacobs Mahler told the truth about her age? She tended to fudge a year or two in either direction.

• If the enumerator thinks an answer is not truthful, he or she should footnote it and indicate what the truthful answer might be. Wouldn't that be interesting to see on a page with my ancestors? Looking at Great-grandma Tillie, would the enumerator believe she was, say, 98? I can't wait to find out.

• Asking about the respondent's occupation, enumerators are not to accept a general term like "agent" or "clerk" or "engineer" but must ask questions to obtain more specifics, such as "purchasing agent" or "aeronautical engineer." This would help me learn a bit more about ancestors whose work lives I know little about.

• Enumerators were to be specific about the county in which the respondent lived a year before. This will be really valuable to me, because instructions say not to accept merely "New York City" but ask about the specific borough of the city. If my ancestors moved from, say, Brooklyn to the Bronx in 1949-50, this question may reveal the move. I'm talking about you, Great-aunt Nellie Block! 

Steal My Family Photos--Please

Woodcut of hubby's ancestor, "stolen" by 13 other people for their family trees!

Dear cousins and possible cousins:

"Steal my family photos--please!"

And post them on your family trees so I can connect with you. Cousin bait!

Family photo of Tillie Rose Jacobs Mahler, "stolen" by others for their family trees!

If you save my publicly-posted family photos to your tree (whether it's hubby's 2d great-grandpa Benjamin McClure or my great-grandma Tillie Rose Jacobs Mahler), I can click on your profile photo, see whether we are a DNA match, look at your tree, and find out whether (and how) we're related.

Sure, some people who are not related have mistakenly claimed my photos of dead ancestors for their trees. Either I'll send a gentle private message questioning the connection or I'll post a politely-worded public comment on the photo on that tree.

You don't need my permission to "steal" a publicly-posted photo for your tree. And I don't expect you to ask permission.*

Please, just go ahead and steal my family photos . . . and lead me to our cousin connection!

This week's #52Ancestors prompt is "Thief."

*John Tew recently wrote that while he agrees with me, he also would like those who "borrow" his photos to give credit to his grandmother who so carefully and thoughtfully preserved these photos for future generations to enjoy. A lovely idea...and I do hope some of his distant relatives will do that. I'm just happy anyone saves any of my photos so I can follow the bread crumbs and find our cousin connection.

#CousinBait #Genealogy #FamilyHistory

Honoring Burk/Mahler Grandparents on Ellis Island

Finding the Moritz Farkas Family inscription on Ellis Island Wall of Honor

Yesterday, I submitted an order to honor my paternal grandparents, both immigrants, by having their names inscribed on the Ellis Island Wall of Honor.

Maternal Ancestors Already on the Wall

This is the second set of immigrant ancestors to be inscribed on the Wall of Honor. Years ago, my mother's first cousin submitted "The Moritz Farkas Family" to be inscribed on Panel 132.

Moritz Farkas and his wife Lena Kunstler Farkas were my maternal great-grandparents. They came from Hungary just at the turn of the 20th century and settled in New York City.

The photo at top shows my Sis, our cousins, and me visiting Ellis Island in 1996 to photograph the Farkas inscription. It was a stunning beautiful day and we were proud to see "The Moritz Farkas Family" on the wall honoring immigrants.

Burk and Mahler Names to Be Added

Now, with only 5 panels remaining on the Wall of Honor, I decided it was time to pay for ancestors on my father's side to have their names inscribed.

I submitted an order to inscribe the name of my paternal grandpa Isaac Burk and his wife, my paternal grandma Henrietta Mahler Burk. The cost would have been one name for $150, but I ordered a husband-and-wife inscription for $225.

Both deserve to be honored for having the courage and initiative to leave their homelands (Isaac was from Lithuania, Henrietta from Latvia) and make a new life in North America.

Because the Ellis Island order form requires a middle initial (for the format I chose), I had to get a little creative. I never heard or found any middle name for Isaac, so I added "I" for his original name in Lithuania, Itzhak. Similarly, Henrietta had no middle name that I know of, so I added "Y" for her nickname, Yetta.

Schwartz and Farkas Names to Be Added Also

Sis was so excited about memorializing our ancestors on the Ellis Island's Wall of Honor that we immediately ordered our maternal grandparents' names for the wall. The format I chose this time is "Theodore and Hermina Farkas Schwartz" from Hungary.

Ordering before the end of 2019 ensures that these inscriptions will be installed by summer of 2020. I'm looking forward to seeing the names on the wall next year!

Grandparents' Birthplaces: All Over the Map

Birthplaces of McClure, Wood, Steiner ancestors - plus Slatter in London, England

For this week's #52Ancestors challenge (thank you to Amy Johnson Crow), I mapped where in the world my grandparents and my husband's grandparents were born.

They were born all over the map.

Hubby's Grandparents - Larimer, Steiner, Slatter, and Wood

Three of my husband's grandparents were born in the American Midwest, one in England.

• Maternal grandpa Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970) was born in Little Traverse, Michigan, while his parents tried farming there for a short time.
• Maternal grandma Floyda Mabel Steiner (1878-1948) was born in Nevada, Ohio. Her birth certificate was really "delayed" (only issued in 1944, most likely so she could apply for Social Security).
• Paternal grandpa James Edgar Wood (1871-1939) was born in Toledo, Ohio. He was one of 17 children, 8 of whom were born in Toledo.
• Paternal grandma Mary Slatter (1869-1925) was born in London, in the poorest of the poor sections of Whitechapel. (Her birthplace is not on the map at top--just couldn't fit it in!)

My Grandparents - Farkas, Schwartz, Burk, and Mahler

Birthplaces of Farkas, Schwartz, Mahler, and Burk ancestors

None of my grandparents had America roots--all were born in Eastern Europe and settled in New York City soon after the turn of the 20th century.

• Maternal grandma Hermina Farkas (1886-1964) was born in Berehovo, Hungary, not very far from where her future husband was born.
• Maternal grandpa Theodore Schwartz (1887-1965) was born in Ungvar, Hungary, but met his future wife in a Hungarian delicatessen in the Lower East Side of New York City, according to family lore.
• Paternal grandma Henrietta Mahler (1881-1954) was born near Riga, Latvia, according to her husband's naturalization paperwork. I hope someday to better pinpoint her birthplace.
• Paternal grandpa Isaac Burk (1881-1943) was born in Gargzdai, Lithuania and married his wife Henrietta in New York City.

Happy 11th Blogiversary!

Eleven years ago this week, I began my genealogy blog wondering about my paternal great-grandfather, Meyer Elias Mahler. By now, I've added many twigs and branches to that part of my family tree.

In recent months, I even discovered two sons of Meyer and his wife (great-grandma Tillie Jacobs Mahler), boys who died very young and weren't remembered by later generations. I put them on my public tree so their names will not be forgotten ever again.

That's one of the main reasons I do genealogy: to keep alive the memory of my ancestors and let future generations know about their roots in the past.

Thank you!

Heart-felt thanks to the cousins, extended family members, and researchers who have contacted me via my blog! I am so grateful to be connected with you, getting to know you, and exploring our ancestors' lives together. Such fun and so rewarding.

To all my dear readers, thank you so much for posting comments, offering advice, and returning to read my blog.

After more than 1,130 posts, I'm looking forward to new discoveries, new technologies, new ancestors, and most of all, new connections with friends and family!

Great-Uncle David Mahler, the Wanderer

My great uncle David Mahler (1882-1964) was the black sheep of his family. Oldest son of my great-grandma Tillie Jacobs Mahler (185?-1952) and great-grandpa Meyer Elias Mahler (1861-1910), David got in trouble with the law as a teenager and then was involved in an incident where he fell asleep and his burning cigarette lit a fire that destroyed his brother-in-law's paint store.

In 1905, David was still living at home with his entire family in a large tenement in Jewish Harlem, New York City. According to the NY Census, his occupation was "driver." Interestingly, crowded in along with David's parents and six siblings were two "boarders," Isidore Burk and Myer Burk. (They were actually Isaac Burk--hi Grandpa!--and Meyer Berg. Isaac married David's sister Henrietta in 1906.)

David Mahler in Toronto?

David and his sister Henrietta were born in Riga, Latvia, according to their father's naturalization papers. (My guess is they were actually from a nearby small town that U.S. officials wouldn't recognize or be able to spell--Riga is both recognized and easy to spell!)

Searching for more immigration records of the Mahler family, I did a fresh search on David. Up popped the index card at top, a summary of a border crossing at Detroit from a Canadian Pacific Railway manifest dated Christmas Day of 1906.

There are a lot of similarities with MY David Mahler. Born in Riga, yes. Spent time in U.S., yes. Age is correct for my great uncle. But could this really be David, formerly of New York City, now leaving Toronto by train for Chicago to be a waiter?

Page 2 of WWII Draft Registration Card

For a physical description of David Mahler, I looked at his WWI and WWII draft registration cards.

Sometimes page 2 of draft registration cards doesn't always show up in the initial image. Be sure to advance one page in the image files to look at the entire card!

Here's page 2 of David's WWII draft card. His height is the same as on the border crossing card shown at top. His hair is black, same as in the border crossing card. Eyes are brown, same. I was surprised to see both describe his complexion as "ruddy" but the match goes a long way toward persuading me that my great uncle David was crossing from Toronto to Chicago via Detroit. (The tattoo must have been done after his WWI registration, since it's not listed on that card.)

Missing Years in David Mahler's Life

In the bigger picture, I'm still looking for what happened to David Mahler between 1907, when he was bound for Chicago, and 1918. That's the year he registered for the WWI draft with an address in Camden, N.J., where he was working as a rigger.

The Chicago city directory for 1914 lists a David Mahler working as a salesman and living at 6135 S. May. Using Google maps, I see that's a home, not an apartment building, way down on the South Side of Chicago. This might not be MY David Mahler.

Also, I haven't yet found him in the 1910 US Census. That's the year his father died. Did he return home for the funeral? Nor have I found him in the 1920 Census. Creative spelling hasn't helped.

According to the 1940 US Census, David was living in High Point, N.C. in 1935. So far, no city directory confirms this.

In 1940, he's living in Los Angeles and working for an in-law at a big movie studio. I've confirmed that employment and that address as being accurate--plus David registered to vote in 1940 at same address and remained there for years.

Wondering About Wandering

SO . . . my research indicates that David Mahler went from his birthplace in Latvia to New York City to Toronto (no border crossing doc yet) to Chicago (border crossing doc at top) to Camden, N.J. (WWI draft card) to High Point (so says 1940 Census) to Los Angeles (lots of solid documentation), where he died in May of 1964. What a wanderer! Wonder why?

David was a bachelor, and by researching and documenting his life, I'm keeping his memory alive for future generations who never met him.

David Mahler and the Essex Market Police Court

Essex Market Police Court (from NY Historical Society Digital Collection)

Old newspapers hold a treasure trove of family-history possibilities.

Here's a fascinating story I found while systematically searching for each of my Mahler ancestors in newspaper databases.

David Mahler, Charged with "Malicious Mischief"

In November, 1897, it appears that my great uncle David Mahler (1882-1964) was hauled into the Essex Market Police Court, located at the corner of Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, NY. (I wasn't aware of this court until reading about David's predicament.)

According to a report in the Sun and New York Press dated November 22, 1897, "David Mahler, 13 years old, of 58 Chrystie Street, answered to a charge of malicious mischief." He was accused of throwing a brick through a plate-glass window of the store at 69 Chrystie Street.

The news reporter quoted David Mahler as saying: "Dat's all right, me father is going to pay for the window." The storekeeper objected, saying that the court should hold David in jail until the father actually paid the money.

The judge was outraged at the storekeeper--and sets David's pre-trial bail at $500. In today's dollars, that would be nearly $3,000. Where would David's parents, my great-grandpa Meyer Mahler and his wife Tillie Jacobs Mahler, get that kind of cash?

Although I thoroughly searched two newspaper databases and did a general online search, I've found no follow-up. My guess is that the Mahler family settled out of court with the storekeeper and that was that.

Is This My Great Uncle? 

The 1897 news account of teenage mischief is almost certainly about MY great uncle, who in 1900 was living with his family at 88 Chrystie Street in the Lower East Side. Allowing for typos and mistakes, the newspaper said he lived at 58 Chrystie Street. Today, 69 Chrystie Street is a small storefront set into a tenement building. And the age is about right for my David Mahler.

Born in Latvia, David was the second child of my great-grandparents and the oldest son. He came to New York with the family when he was about 4 years old. As an adult, David had a checkered history, and I'm told by a cousin who heard the stories that he was a bit of a black sheep.

During WWI, David worked as a rigger in Camden, NJ (according to his draft registration card). After that, he bounced around and finally was given a job as a utility man at Columbia Studios in Hollywood by an influential executive who was a Mahler in-law. He was working there at the time of the 1940 Census and well into in the 1950s, I can see from California voter registration cards (he was a Democrat).

During the last years of his life, David battled metastatic bladder cancer. He was operated on during January of 1964 and died in the Motion Picture Country Hospital, less than five months later. His sister, Sarah Mahler Smith, was the informant on David's death cert.

Keep Redoing Searches--New Ancestors May Pop Up!

Transcribed death record for Sundel Mahler

Knowing that new info is constantly being transcribed, indexed, and posted on genealogy websites, I regularly redo searches on my ancestors. Not every name, of course, but definitely those in my direct line and sometimes aunts or uncles or cousins or even in-laws whose lives I'm trying to flesh out.

Finding New Members of the Mahler Family 

Last year I was redoing searches for my great-grandma Tillie Jacobs Mahler and great-grandpa Meyer Elias Mahler, and their children. That led me to find on FamilySearch.org a death record for their three-year-old son, Wolf, who died of "acute Bright's disease" (liver problems). Neither I nor any of my Mahler cousins had ever heard of Wolf. But the death cert (visible only at a Family History Center) was quite clear and proved that Wolf was, indeed, a son of my great-grandparents.

Today, I redid that search for Tillie and Meyer--and found yet another death record for a previously-unknown son who died at an even younger age. The transcription is shown above. I have to get to the FHC to view the death cert in person, but based on the transcribed info, not just names but also the street address, little baby Sundel* Mahler would have been my great uncle if he had grown up.

Sadly, the baby died within weeks of his birth. He's buried in Mount Zion Cemetery, with a burial date of April 7, 1901, in the Sons of Telsh plot. That's where my great-grandparents were laid to rest. Another strong piece of evidence in favor of Sundel being part of my Mahler family.

Baby Is Buried in Telsh Plot--Somewhere

Search of Mahler interments in Sons of Telsh plot, Mt. Zion Cemetery, NY

I've visited Meyer and Tillie Mahler's graves in Mt. Zion Cemetery. The headstones are very crowded and it's not at all easy to navigate to and between plots. So it's not surprising that I never noticed baby Sundel somewhere in that plot.

As shown above in the interment search results, he is in the plot but he is not in a designated grave. Sometimes infants were buried with either a tiny marker or in a part of the plot where other babies are buried. This is very likely what happened in the case of Sundel Mahler.

More Evidence: Census Data 

In the 1900 U.S. Census, Meyer and Tillie said they had 9 children in all, but only 7 were living at the time of that Census. Wolf was one of the two who died. The other child who died may have been born in the old country, during the multi-year gap I noticed between the births of early children and the time the family arrived in America. That's my working hypothesis.

In the 1910 U.S. Census, Meyer Mahler had died a few days before the enumerator came around. Widow Tillie told the Census that she had 10 children in all, but only 7 were living at the time of the Census. Now I can account for that one more child--baby Sundel Mahler, born and died after the 1900 Census but before the 1910 Census.

Never Give Up! 

Keep redoing searches--new ancestors can and do pop up as more records are added to online collections, transcribed, and indexed! That's how I found baby Sundel and baby Wolf. More ancestors are certainly waiting to be found if I continue to redo my searches. Never give up.

* I'm told "Zundel" in Yiddish means "small boy" but it's also a name.

Cousin Frank Morris Jacob Was a Marine in WWI

Military service of Frank M. Jacob in WWI

On this Memorial Day weekend, I want to honor the military service of a cousin on my father's side of the family tree, who enlisted in the U.S. Marines during WWI.

Frank Morris "Maurice" Jacob was born on October 3, 1896, in New York City. He went by "Frank" and used "Maurice," the Americanized version of his given name Morris, as his middle name. He was my first cousin, twice removed.

Frank's father Joseph Jacobs (1864-1918) was the brother of my long-lived paternal great-grandma Tillie Jacobs Mahler (she was nearly 100 when she died). Frank's mother was Eva Michalovsky Jacobs (1869-1941).

Finding Frank in the NY State Census

1905 New York State Census, Manhattan, NY

1915 New York State Census, Brooklyn, NY

In 1905, Frank (enumerated as Morris) was living with his parents and siblings at 88 Chrystie Street in a large tenement on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, NY, an area crowded with immigrants. He was at school, his father was a janitor, his mother was a saleswoman.

In 1915, Frank (again, as Morris) was living with his mother Eva and siblings Flora, Louis, and Hilda in Brooklyn, NY. Eva was shown the head of the household. Where was Joseph Jacobs, Eva's husband and the father of these children? Sadly, he was in the hospital and he died late in 1918 as a result of Parkinson's disease.

By 1925, Frank was living with his widowed mother on Gerard Avenue in the Bronx, NY, and working in advertising (his profession for the rest of his life). Eva was, indeed, born in "Russia" but not Frank, who was definitely not an alien.

Frank Became a Marine in WWI

Frank enlisted in the U.S. Marines on April 18, 1917. Less than three months later, he was fighting in France. As shown at top on his service record, Frank was involved in four major engagements during WWI: in the Toulon Sector, the Aisne Defensive, the Chateau-Thierry Sector, and the Aisne-Marne Offensive.

I found lots of interesting historical background on the Marines in WWI on the U.S. WWI Centennial Commission website here. Clearly, Frank and his units saw some fierce fighting. Frank was wounded on July 19, 1918, during a major battle in which Germany's machine guns took a very heavy toll on the Marines.

Frank was returned to the States in August, 1918, and continued to serve in the Marines until he left the military on June 13, 1919, more than two years after his enlistment. He supported his mother and lived with her in New York City until she died in the 1940s. Frank died on July 5, 1974, in Brooklyn, NY.

Cousin Frank, although I never met you, I salute and admire your courageous military service!

Thanks, as always, to Amy Johnson Crow for this week's #52Ancestors prompt of military.

Immigrant Grandparents: City (His) and Country (Mine)

           Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925)

Remember that Sesame Street song, "One of These Things Is Not Like the Other"?

Well, one of our immigrant grandparents is not like the others. One was a city girl, the others were all from rural backgrounds.

This month's Genealogy Blog Party theme is "Immigrant Ancestors." This week's #52Ancestors prompt is "out of place." I've fit both into one post about his and hers immigrant grandparents.

His Big-City Grandma from London

My husband had only one immigrant grandparent. All the others were descended from families that had come to America long ago (some as long ago as the Mayflower). Others arrived in the 1700s.

At top, hubby's immigrant Grandma Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925). Born in the poverty-stricken Whitechapel neighborhood of London, she was the youngest of six children. In her youth, she was in and out of notorious poorhouses because her father wasn't always in the household and her mother (Mary Shehen Slatter) couldn't support the family.

Yet Mary not only survived her sad childhood, she became a doting and devoted mother in her 30s after arriving in Ohio and marrying James Edgar Wood (1871-1939). The photo above shows her soon after her marriage, around the turn of the 20th century. From hearing my late father-in-law talk about her, Mary was the bedrock of love for her four sons. Mary was born a city girl and she lived a city life in fast-growing Cleveland, Ohio.

My Eastern European Grandparents

Henrietta Mahler Burk and Isaac Burk

My immigrant grandparents, all four of them, were from the country, unlike my husband's big-city grandma.

Above, my paternal grandma, Henrietta Mahler, from Latvia. Her husband, Isaac Burk, was from Lithuania, and they met in New York City. Both lived fairly rural lives in Eastern European towns, but had to adjust to skyscrapers and concrete when they arrived in the Big Apple. After some years in Jewish Harlem, they moved to the Bronx--then considered almost suburban because of the many parks, not to mention the world-famous zoo and botanical gardens.

Hermina Farkas Schwartz and Tivador "Teddy" Schwartz

My maternal grandparents, shown here, were both from Hungary. Hermina Farkas Schwartz (1886-1964) and Tivador "Teddy" Schwartz (1887-1965) met and married in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Before coming to New York City, he lived in Ungvar in Hungary, a bustling market town, and she lived out in the countryside in the small town of Berehovo. They raised their three children in an apartment in the Bronx, nothing at all like where they were originally from.

After the children were grown and gone, Grandma Minnie and Grandpa Teddy tried to spend a week or two each summer away from the city heat in "the country." I dimly remember visiting them in a bungalow in Spring Valley, New York, which is now a hop, skip, and jump across the busy Tappan Zee Bridge but was then quite a rural area, dotted with small summer rentals.

Whoa, Nellie! Oh, Henry! Researching My Great Aunt

Center, Nellie Block. Right, Jennie Birk. Left: Which brother?

My great aunt Nellie Block was the oldest sister of paternal Grandpa Isaac Burk. She's the lady in the center of this undated photo. From the meager paperwork I've assembled, she may possibly have come to America from their hometown of Gargzdai, Lithuania, before her other siblings made the journey.

I haven't yet found her on a passenger manifest, so I can't confirm exactly when she crossed the Atlantic. She didn't travel with her brother Meyer Berg, who arrived in May, 1903, or her brother Max Birk, who arrived in 1906. She didn't travel with my Grandpa Isaac or his older brother Abraham, who both went to Canada first. She didn't travel with younger sister Jennie, who arrived in 1909. In each case, I found these siblings on the manifest without her, seeming to be alone in their trans-Atlantic crossing.

Here's what I do know. When my Grandpa sailed to Canada and later crossed into America in 1904, he listed "Sister Nella Block" as the nearest relative he was going to meet in New York City. At that time, the address for Nellie was the apartment where the Mahler family lived--their daughter Henrietta Mahler became the bride of Isaac Burk in 1906. So it seems there was a previous family connection between the Burk and Mahler families. (That connection continued, clearly, because Jennie was a boarder in the Mahler apartment in the 1910 census. More about that in a later post.)

Whoa, Nellie! Check That Date

Nellie Block's gravestone shows her Hebrew name as "Neshi, daughter of Solomon." (This tallies with what I know of the father's name.) It also shows her as 85 years of age when she died. Date carved in stone? Not necessarily correct.

Here's what two Census documents say:

• 1905 New York Census, age 27 (census taken in June)
• 1910 US Census, age 31 (census taken in April)

I am actively searching for her in the 1915 NY Census, 1920 US Census, 1930 Census, or 1940 Census, using variations on her name, because I am 99% positive she remained in New York City.

Based on what I have in hand, I believe she was born in 1879 and was actually 71 (not 85) when she died on December 22, 1950. Why the family would have her age as 85 is a mystery.

Oh, Henry! Where Nellie Lived

Two Census documents show Nellie lived as a boarder in tenements on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where so many other immigrants began their new lives. Her address in 1905 was 62 Henry Street, a tenement building that no longer exists, where she was a boarder in someone else's apartment. Her address in 1910 was 46 Henry Street, boarding in a tenement just a one-minute walk from her previous address, as shown in the map above.

That area has been going through a resurgence; I found an article here about what Henry Street used to be like a century ago.

Oh Henry! was the name of a popular candy bar introduced about 100 years ago and still on the market today. Whether Nellie ever tasted one, I have no idea. It would be so sweet to learn more about Great Aunt Nellie!

Ancestors Had Large Families, Descendants Had Small Families

My pre-1900 ancestors and those of my husband usually had large families. Their late 19th/early 20th century descendants had markedly smaller families. It's a familiar pattern, repeated over and over again, with fewer children in each succeeding generation.

Wood Family: 17 Kids

Hubby's paternal great-grandfather Thomas Haskell Wood (1809-1890) and great-grandmother Mary Amanda Demarest (1831-1897) had 17 children together.

Unfortunately, 7 of the children didn't survive to adulthood. Of their grown children, one had 10 children but most had only a handful of kids. Rachel "Nellie" Wood had 2 children with her first husband, Walter A. Lewis, for instance. Families were smaller still in the following generation.

Descendants tell me that when the oldest of Thomas's and Mary Amanda's children were grown, married, and raising families, their much younger siblings were still in school.

McClure Family: 10 Kids

Hubby's maternal great-great-grandfather Benjamin McClure (1812-1896) and his wife Sarah Denning (1811-1888) had 10 children together. Two didn't survive to adulthood (still checking on the fate of one of them).

None of their grown children had as many children. One married but had no children. By the next generation, the largest number of kids was six; one in this next generation married but had no children.

Mahler Family: 8 Kids

On my father's side of the family, great-grandfather Meyer Mahler (1861-1910) and great-grandma Tillie Rose Jacobs (185?-1952) had 8 children together. All but one survived to adulthood.

Three of the adults had no children, the rest had 5 or fewer children, the usual pattern. By the time Meyer & Tillie's grandchildren were marrying, the families were even smaller.

Farkas Family: 11 Kids

On my mother's side of the family, great-grandpa Moritz Farkas (1857-1936) and great-grandma Leni Kunstler (1865-1938) had 11 children together. Two of the sons never married (and were "bachelor brothers"), one son married but had no children, and the other 8 married and had either 2 or 3 children apiece.

Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow for this #52Ancestors prompt.

Uncle Sidney, the Bachelor Burk

Uncle Sidney Bernard Burk (1914-1995) wasn't born with that name, nor was he born in New York City like his three siblings. No wonder it took me a little time to find his birth record.

The breakthrough came when a local genealogy club hosted an expert on French-Canadian genealogy, who explained how to search the Drouin collection through Ancestry. I have no French-Canadian family, but I hoped to pick up some general tips. Then I remembered that my father's brother Sidney was born in Montreal. Maybe his birth is in the Drouin collection?

Samuel B. Berk in the Drouin Collection

When I got home, I searched the Drouin collection for "S. Berk" because that was the way the family's surname was spelled at the time. (Of course, being flexible with spelling helps in any search.)

Up popped a record for "Samuel B. Berk" born on April 26, 1914, recorded by a rabbi from a Montreal synagogue. Who was Samuel?

The parents were listed as Isaac Berk and Henrietta Mahler (allowing for a little of that creative spelling thing). Those are my father's parents, so Samuel must have been the name of my Dad's little brother. Most likely the name Samuel was chosen to honor Isaac Berk's father, Solomon Elias.

Naturalization Confirms Birth

Next, I looked for Uncle Sidney's naturalization. As shown above, his birthday is April 26, 1914, and all the other facts match what I know about him. Now I was sure that Samuel B. Berk was Sidney Bernard Burk.

My guess is that my uncle's Hebrew name was Samuel, honoring some ancestor of his parents, and so the rabbi used that name in recording the birth. Still, his English name was always Sidney. All Census documents, all border crossing documents, all official documents other than his birth cert show him as Sidney (or Sydney, that creative spelling thing again).

Travel Agent Who Loved to Travel

My uncle served in WWII and later became a travel agent. For years, he worked with my father in the Burk Travel Service based in New York's swanky Savoy Plaza Hotel, later known as the Savoy Hilton Hotel. After the hotel was torn down and the agency closed, Uncle Sidney worked for a commercial travel agency.

A lifelong bachelor, Uncle Sidney enjoyed visiting his paternal cousins in England and going on agent junkets near and far. At top is his postcard to Dad from Rome, part of a fast-paced agents' trip to encourage tourism to key cities.

Sidney was always close to his brother Harold (my Dad) and his sisters Millie and Miriam, who all married and had children. He outlived his siblings and died in Florida at the age of 81.

Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow for this #52Ancestors prompt of "Bachelor Uncle."

Who Can See Your Family History Media?

 Facts on Great-Grandma Tillie Jacobs Mahler's family tree, with attached media

Genealogy record sets disappear from websites from time to time! And if one of my family history "facts" is linked to a source that disappears, I'll be sorry. Several highly experienced genealogy folks have suggested capturing the source image (original, not transcription or index) for download to my computer. I'm starting to do that.

This way, the digital media will be in my genealogy file folders (arranged by surname and/or family) and in my genealogy software.

Just as important, I'm making sure these media images (Census, vital records, and more) will be visible to anyone who finds my public family trees. I welcome cousins browsing my trees and would love to imagine them clicking to see the media image for themselves. In reality, this is a long shot, but at least the media are visible because the trees are public.

Download, then upload family history media

After I download an image related to a source (such as a Census page), I rename it and save it in the proper digital folder. I also add it to my genealogy software.

The next step is to upload that source as an image to support the related fact on my online tree. You can see what that looks like on my paternal great-grandma's Ancestry tree, shown above in excerpted form. You can see a thumbnail preview of the uploaded media next to the related facts.

Census pages are unlikely to be totally withdrawn from public view, IMHO, because they are so widely available. Especially when the transcription or indexing is squirrelly, I will occasionally attach a blowup of the relevant section as the media rather than the entire page to support a fact. I did this for the 1900 US Census and 1905 NY Census in my tree, above.

Media for possible cousins and future genealogists

OK, I'm late to this party. I was delighted at the distant cousin who not only attached actual Census pages and other media but summarized the contents in the comments area--especially full street addresses or other details. I know he's a careful researcher and I can see at a glance where he says our common ancestors lived or died. Thank you!

When researching common surnames like WOOD, having the ability to quickly check an original source is a big plus. I like to think I'm helping my husband's cousins and future genealogists by attaching the media and not relying solely on links to source citations.

I'm approaching this as a long series of bite-sized projects. One ancestor at a time, I'm capturing, downloading, uploading, and attaching source media. One at a time, not all at once. No tree ever grew in a day.